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Pseudo-Hans Döbringer

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Here begins Master Liechtenauer's art of fencing
Hie hebt sich an meister lichtenawers kunst des fechtens
Author(s) Unknown
Ascribed to Pseudo-Hans Döbringer
Date before 1495
Genre
Language Early New High German
Manuscript(s) MS 3227a
First Printed
English Edition
Żabiński, 2008
Translations

"Pseudo-Hans Döbringer" is the name given to an anonymous 15th century German fencing master.[1] At some point in the 15th century (or possibly the last decade of the 14th), he dictated a gloss on and expansion of the teachings of the grand master Johannes Liechtenauer, including the only biographical details of the master yet discovered; it is even speculated that he was personally acquainted with Liechtenauer, who was still alive at the time of the writing.[2] These comments were written into MS 3227a, a commonplace book, by an equally unknown scribe.

Treatise

Additional Resources

  • Alderson, Keith. “Arts and Crafts of War: die Kunst des Schwerts in its Manuscript Context”. Can The Bones Come to Life? Insights from Reconstruction, Reenactment, and Re-creation 1: 24-29. Wheaton, IL: Freelance Academy Press, 2014. ISBN 978-1-937439-13-2
  • Burkart, Eric. “The Autograph of an Erudite Martial Artist: A Close Reading of Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 3227a”. Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books. Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe: 451-480. Ed. Daniel Jaquet, et al. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2016. doi:10.1163/9789004324725_017
  • Chidester, Michael. The Long Sword Gloss of GNM Manuscript 3227a. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2021. ISBN 978-1-953683-13-7
  • Chidester, Michael and Hagedorn, Dierk. “The Foundation and Core of All the Arts of Fighting”: The Long Sword Gloss of GNM Manuscript 3227a. Somerville, MA: HEMA Bookshelf, 2021. ISBN 978-1-953683-05-2
  • Dürer, Albrecht and Wassmannsdorff, Karl. Die Ringkunst des deutschen Mittelalters. Liepzig: Priber, 1870.
  • Verelst, Karin. "Finding a Way through the Labyrinth: Some Methodological Remarks on Critically Editing the Fight Book Corpus". Late Medieval and Early Modern Fight Books. Transmission and Tradition of Martial Arts in Europe: 117-188. Ed. Daniel Jaquet, Karin Verelst, and Timothy Dawson. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2016. doi:10.1163/9789004324725_008
  • Vodička, Ondřej. “Origin of the oldest German Fencing Manual Compilation (GNM Hs. 3227a)”. Waffen- und Kostümkunde 61(1): 87-108, 2019.
  • Wallhausen, James. Knightly Martial Arts: An Introduction to Medieval Combat Systems. Self-published, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4457-3736-2
  • Welle, Rainer. "...und wisse das alle höbischeit kompt von deme ringen". Der Ringkampf als adelige Kunst im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Pfaffenweiler: Centaurus-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1993. ISBN 3-89085-755-8
  • Żabiński, Grzegorz. “Unarmored Longsword Combat by Master Liechtenauer via Priest Döbringer.” Masters of Medieval and Renaissance Martial Arts: 59-116. Ed. Jeffrey Hull. Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-58160-668-3

References

  1. This name stems from the false assumption of many 20th century writers identifying him with Hans Döbringer. It has been argued that this name is inappropriate because the treatise attributed to pseudo-Döbringer (and also pseudo-Peter von Danzig) are not true pseudepigrapha—they are internally anonymous. However, many Ancient and Medieval pseudepigraphic texts were originally anonymous and were assigned their false attributions by later readers, and this is also the case with these two glosses in our fledgling tradition.
  2. The manuscript uniformly lacks the typical prayer for the dead when mentioning his name.
  3. The silver "soon" was added later above the line
  4. lit: entirely finished sword
  5. lit: verses
  6. latin
  7. Text is blacked out.
  8. alt: behold, peer-into, witness, probe, observe, perceive, inspect, investigate, realize, comprehend. alt: show, present, embody, illuminate
  9. latin
  10. lit: tread-full. completing a step or completing the course of a thing.
  11. alt: giving-way, stepping-off. to give something up. to let something go.
  12. alt: safe, sure
  13. alt: has success
  14. ume züst => umsonst
  15. In front of the words “denne” and “her” there are oblique insertion marks, which indicate a reverse order – as shown here.
  16. schlage, not schlag
  17. Here the writing is cut off by manuscript trimming.
  18. aufwinden: 1) to entangle, wind into a ball 2) to turn or twist upwards.
  19. hindringen: to break or force through. overcome
  20. "Wisely" inferred from the summary
  21. alt: straight
  22. darfahren: unversehens dazu kommen
  23. Supplemented according to fol. 29v.
  24. wegen preposition
  25. wegen verb
  26. ienen
  27. The two words “hewe” and “ander” are interchanged in the manuscript, as indicated by corresponding insertion characters.
  28. At this point there is an ink stain which might hide an original “g” (which can only be seen indistinctly).
  29. dargehen: the approach something in a hostile manner. Literally: to go-there.
  30. The page is clipped. only 'hew' remains. This manuscript spells 'haupte' as 'hewpte'
  31. twer: noun: something that gets in the way, something that cuts across something else, something that crosses. verb: to twist, to twirl, to turn obliquely in relation to something
  32. "Hew" is inserted in the margin.
  33. alt: directly, immediately
  34. The comment ends here and remains unfinished.
  35. Unlike other places where there are definitely passages originally forgotten and inserted with a caret, such is missing here. Thus, it can be conjectured that this is a later addition or comment.
  36. überhangen: to hang over, to lean over, to incline
  37. Grimm: setzen C.2)a)
  38. unterhangen: hang down, like the branches of a tree
  39. Illegible deleted character.
  40. rauschen: like a strong wind rustling quickly through the trees
  41. unterhangen: hang down, like the branches of a tree
  42. überhangen: to hang over, to lean over, to incline
  43. menen: treiben, fuhren, leiten
  44. latin: dampno => damno => harm
  45. The word »Nicht«, which cannot be clearly assigned, is added on the side of the page.
  46. Text cuts off here, and the rest of the page is blank.
  47. Latin passage follows; very difficult.
  48. Grzegorz Żabiński offers: ++ rape radices viole et mitte contare tibi hinssis debtem urgre et quocumque tetigeris suas operis
  49. Please note that there are only three methods described against the turning-out.
  50. Korrigiert aus »sin«.
  51. Alternate description follows, it hopefully should make the method clearer:
    If he holds you by the shoulders, and you grab his shoulders from the outside. Then you sling your right arm with the elbow over his left and below his right, and push downwards, so his right arm moves up. Take this arm over your head and secure the grip with your left hand behind your head; and then push against his chest with your right again. This will lead to a painful breaking lock.
  52. This is a partner exercise, similar to one I know in chinese shuai chiao
  53. Oder »slosse«? Unleserlich.